Is it always better in the future? You know, I remember a while back thinking that 17 year olds are like 7 year olds. They want to have all the privileges of being treated older, but don’t want to give up parental pamperings. 14′s are like 4′s, once again they realize they are not the center of the universe and go about being oppositional to get the attention they deserve. It’s their form of temper tantrum.
I fortunately missed out on both of those tribulations with my biological children. I think it is because we home educated and I talked with them all the time. They trusted me completely. We still face clutter and chores done late, but they know how to cook, sew, do laundry,clean house, mow the lawn, and change the air conditioner filter. There’s far more, but those are the basics, right?
With our adopted children, however, it’s been a long haul to that trust stage. Even though we home educate, they still remember portions of their life in Russia and also see things on television that they think they want. I have problems convincing them that they don’t have to find out the hard way. The twins are watching their almost 15 year old older brother (they are a sibling group of three) as he stumbles along with choices. Fortunately, they don’t want the results he’s getting. I’m hoping he will calm down and see the life benefits of being loved and given strict rules.
Yes, 13′s are like 3′s. “Look, I’m 3, count my fingers!” “Yea! I’m 13. Finally. Now I get to…” Does anyone remember why it was that we couldn’t wait to get older? What is it we get to do? Make our own decisions. Yes, how easy is that? Buy our own things. With what money? Get a job. Are we all doing what we dreamed of?
The twins took a middle school course online. I worked through it with them. Critical Thinking. The course was a repeat of all that I’ve taught them anyway, but it was good to have the reinforcement. The one thing that rang out above all others was the part about living in the moment. All through their lives, most people think about when they will get to the next point. Starting in childhood. I think it comes with wanting what others have. Bigger brother/sister, mother/father, get to do things we don’t get to do.
The biggest thing around here is television. My husband has little self-control when it comes to what he watches when the kids are in the room. On the other hand, I never watched anything I didn’t want my two oldest to see. When they were about 8 and 10, we watched Northern Exposure together; that was the only adult show. I did not watch PG-13 or R rated movies. As they got older, we moved into the PG-13′s and now they watch the R’s. I like to have time with my older boys and will watch a movie with them on occasion. This, of course, makes a to-do with our younger ones. They just can’t wait until they’re 13! Well, I’ve been telling them all along, just because the Motion Picture Association of America thinks it’s okay for 13 year olds to be watching people sleep together and blood pooling under bodies or listening to foul language as if that’s the new way of carrying on a conversation, doesn’t mean I do! Well, not in those words, but pretty close.
We can’t afford cable right now, so there is no regular TV. We do watch some on Hulu, only ones Mommy gives the nod to, and we are paying for Netflix. That’s a pretty good deal when there are four computers and a couple of game systems that can run movies and shows all at the same time. Of course, this is our only entertainment and 10 bucks a month I can live with.
Oops, got carried away there. That’s part of the 55 year old thing. I think it reverts back to the talkative 5′s. LOL.
Can I say I’m enjoying where I am and living in the moment? I surely know it’s never greener on the other side!
Fotki image credit: photosues – jumping boy
